


Love Despite the War

by Princesjules



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Keith (Voltron), Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Hunk (Voltron), Beta Pidge | Katie Holt, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), M/M, Multi, Omega Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 03:10:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princesjules/pseuds/Princesjules
Summary: It started so simply. The stupid beautiful kid in his class, who was way too good at flying and had a nasty right hook that only sparked more interest. It didn’t help that Keith was an alpha which just drove Lance’s instincts wild.Then his attention split, but only in a way that made his heart grow for more. When he was first introduced to professor Shirogane Lance’s knees went weak. That man was gorgeous, more gorgeous that the posters he managed to slap all over his bedroom and dorm. The strong and wildly brilliant alpha pilot made Lance want to work even harder.





	1. Chapter 1

It started so simply. The stupid beautiful kid in his class, who was way too good at flying and had a nasty right hook that only sparked more interest. It didn’t help that Keith was an alpha which just drove Lance’s instincts wild.

Then his attention split, but only in a way that made his heart grow for more. When he was first introduced to professor Shirogane Lance’s knees went weak. That man was gorgeous, more gorgeous that the posters he managed to slap all over his bedroom and dorm. The strong and wildly brilliant alpha pilot made Lance want to work even harder.

After years of being told an omega would never be a pilot, by his family and nearly everyone he went to school with. No one thought much of omega’s, thought all they were good for was taking care of pups and being homebodies keeping everything in line for their alpha’s.

Lance wanted to be more than just the stereotype of an omega. After hearing it all his life he wanted to be the exception to the rule. He wanted to be the one who helped change the status quo and prove that omega’s were just as capable as everyone else.

Then he failed out of the fighter pilot class, and Shiro left for Kerberos. In one fell swoop Lance lost both focuses of his affection. It crushed him in ways he could not fully understand, so he turned that pain into focus.

Instead of dwelling on the pain in his chest for the men he fell for he worked twice as hard to prove himself. Hoping to make it back into the fighter pilot class, to one day prove himself worthy.

By the time he had clawed his way back into fighter pilot class it was only because Keith dropped out. That made Lance hurt more, because he didn’t feel like he had earned it the right way and everyone in that class reminded him daily that he was only there because Keith was gone. So despite the pain it caused him he grew to hate Keith, and when they came together that evolved into a rivalry – to cover the pain and heartbreak.

It was easier to fight with Keith, to fight with the a strong and handsome alpha because in some way he got the attention he craved from Keith. And he got some attention from Shiro when he was told to cut it out. Because it was something, and more than he had ever had from either of them before.

 

 

 

 

Five months. It took Lance five months to run out of his suppressants. Normally he had six months worth at a time, so he was glad he had gotten a refill just three weeks before they found the blue lion. He had also given close to a weeks worth of his remaining supply to Coran when he realized they would be in space for the long haul.

Unfortunately with the limited resources they had on the castle ship, and the biology mismatch between the Alteans and Humans Coran was unable to make a viable substitute. He had also basically destroyed the pills in his pursuit to make something for Lance.

That left Lance high and dry, and his body reacting to the lack of suppressants. Immediately he felt sick, sweaty and his whole body ached. He’d experienced this reaction before when he’d run out on the one occasion he had forgotten to get the next half-year supply in time. It was unpleasant and the worst possible thing to be going through in the middle of a war.

Lance knew he wouldn’t have long before his system flushed the last of the suppressants out, so he had to warn the team. Everyone thought he was a beta just like Hunk and Pidge were, and that was just fine with him. It made everything easier because instincts weren’t around to get in the way. But he knew that without the suppressants his scent would grow stronger again and that could cause problems with the amount of alpha’s that were regularly hosted on the ship.

When everyone sat down for the breakfast Hunk had prepared for everyone Lance had his chance to say something.

“Before we start on to much today I have to say something,” Lance began, not nearly a lively as he usually was and that caught everyone’s attention.

“What’s going on Lance?” Hunk asked, voicing what almost everyone in the room was thinking.

It took a moment for Lance to compose himself enough to speak in a way that everyone would understand without too much information. “This morning I ran out of my suppressants. Which means by days end I’ll be really sick and out of commission for about a week while my body readjusts to not having them.”

“I didn’t know beta’s took suppressants. Isn’t that just an omega thing?” Keith remarked without really looking at Lance.

“That’s why I’m warning you guys. I’m an omega,” Lance retorted, sitting back down.

The room was silent for close to a minute. The only sound was Lance scratching at his neck, right over his scent glands.

“If you’re not going to be well for much longer we might want to go ahead and train while we have some time today,” Allura piped up when no one else said anything on the matter.

“Good idea Princess. After breakfast we’ll all meet in the training deck and do a little bit of work while we have the time,” Shiro agreed, not once looking up from his food.

Breakfast was fairly quiet after that. And slowly everyone got up from the table, all with food still on their plates which was abnormal to say the least. The news Lance had delivered seemed to take it’s toll the team.

On the way out Lance was stopped by Hunk, who was quickly trying to clean the kitchen before they had to go to the training deck.

“If you need anything let me know. I’m really not sure how to help, but I’m here if you need me,” Hunk said, giving Lance a tight squeeze.

“Thanks Hunk. I’ve gone through this before, and it sucks. There’s not a whole lot I can think of that I could use your help with. I just know I wont be coming out of my room for a few days while my body levels out on it’s own,” Lance said shyly, shuffling his feet.

“I will be there for whatever you need. Just say the word buddy.”

“Means a lot,” Lance said before making his way out of the kitchen and to his room. If they were going to be training Lance needed to be in better clothing. Pyjamas were not ideal to work out in.

 

Half an hour later everyone had gathered on the training deck. Shiro and Allura were discussing what should be done. Keith was off in the corner working on his blade skills, waiting. Pidge was sitting off to the side on her laptop, with Hunk at her side while they worked on some important tech thing Lance was too distracted to care about.

And the omega himself was unable to stay still. He constantly felt the need to scratch an itch or roll his shoulder. Anything that would alleviate the constant discomfort he felt. Like there was something just below the skin that was irritating him. He knew it was just his bodies reaction to the suppressants flushing out of his system, but it was still irritating.

“We’re going to pair off and spar. It’s the best way to warm up,” Allura began.

Immediately Hunk and Pidge grabbed each other as if claiming the other as their sparring partner before they could be told otherwise.

“Nice try,” Shiro said, walking over to the beta’s and putting his hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “Hunk, you’re with me. Pidge you and Allura are going to be a pair. Keith and Lance, don’t kill each other.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Keith said when Lance walked over.

“Come at me mullet,” Lance taunted, only after Keith had put his Marmora Blade down.

Keith rolled his eyes, but charged at Lance, only to dip left at the last second to run right past the blue paladin, swinging around to grab him by the elbow and pull him back.

“You have to be quicker than that,” Keith warned, only to have his leg hooked at the knee and be momentarily crushed under Lance as they fell back.

“Think again,” Lance said, rolling off of Keith to get into a low crouch fighting stance.

Keith let out a low growl as he popped back up to his feet and stared Lance down, daring him to make the next move.

The two just stared at each other for a long time, neither one wanting to give in first and charge the other. Unfortunately Lance’s lack of patience and whole body irritation got the better of him and he had to move. This time he charged the alpha, but Keith was quicker and in a second pinned the omega to the floor.

“Maybe next time you should think before you act,” Keith growled low in warning.

Reacting on instinct before he fully realized what was going on Lance closed his eyes and bared his throat to Keith. Letting the alpha have full view of his scent glands, that were bright red and irritated from all the scratching Lance had been doing over the last hour since breakfast. At the same time he let out a low whine of pain.

Taken aback Keith shoved off the omega and took some very quick steps away until his back hit the wall.

“That was low even for you Lance,” Keith hissed.

Lance curled in on himself on the floor before hurrying to his feet and all but running towards the door.

“I’ll be in my room,” Lance called before the door closed behind him.

The rest of the room was left stunned at what had just happened. Quickly all eyes turned on Keith for an explanation.

There was no way Keith was going to tell anyone what had happened. He could barely think with the sweet scent of seawater that clung to his nose and was all over his clothes. A scent that was undeniably Lance, and to Keith’s dismay incredibly alluring.

 

 

After showering Lance had resigned himself to stay in his room until he was back to himself. Until he was back under control of himself, because he did not feel like himself. Whining for an alpha. Barring his neck at Keith. None of that was him, that was all instinct and not ones he wanted to give into.

There was too much at risk with the alpha’s on board the ship. He’d had crushes on them even back on earth and in the middle of an intergalactic war was not the time to fall for someone, let alone two someones that were supposed to be his leader and his rival.

It just wouldn’t work out well for anyone, so Lance was going to hide until he was able to control himself and once his hormones had found their new level without the suppressants.

 

Everyone gave Lance a wide birth, not wanting to interfere. Everyone had their own things to do, that normally didn’t involve Lance, so it wasn’t too hard to get along without him.

The one time Lance had to be pulled from his solitude was when they came across a galra battle cruiser orbiting an inhabited planet. It was rough to say the least. Halfway through the fight Lance got distracted and Keith narrowly managed to cover his butt. Then he started to cry because he couldn’t get to Hunk in time and his best friend got hit before tearing the ship in half.

Lance’s emotions were everywhere and it made the fight more difficult. Not only did the paladins have to worry about the galra they were fighting, but also the blue paladin’s roller coaster of emotions.

Eventually Shiro made the call for Lance to just go back to the castle, because they had it handled without him. That started a new torrent of tears and the omega retreated to the castle.

He stumbled out of his lion, tears in his eyes and started ripping off his armour and throwing it around the hanger. Then he fell to his knees by blue paw and cried. He was angry, and upset and heartbroken. He felt like he had been rejected because he wasn’t good enough for the team anymore. Because he was finally being himself – even though he had to be – he felt unwanted.

The omega had had feelings like that before. Like he wasn’t needed. Like he was just in the way. Like everyone would be able to go on just fine without him. Maybe those feelings were right, because everyone else seemed to be doing just fine without him.

 

When the other paladins got back to the castle Hunk went to check on Lance, only to find he was not in his bedroom. That worried the beta, and quickly an all out search for Lance broke out around the castle. They knew he couldn’t have gotten far, because Blue had made it back to her hanger, but her paladin was no where to be found.

Shiro was the first one to find him, curled in on himself and tucked between Blue’s giant paws. The lion hovering over her paladin like a mother caring for her pup.

The alpha tried to rush to Lance’s side, but Blue’s force field came up and she growled at the man. A noise he had never heard any of the lions make, let alone to one of the paladins.

Not knowing what else to do Shiro called for the others to help.

The only person Blue let in was Hunk. And then the force field went back up around the two paladins. Like she was worried someone else would try to get to her beloved sleeping paladin.

“He’s freezing cold. This isn’t good,” Hunk said, when he touched Lance’s shoulder to wake him. Instead of waking him up Hunk picked up the shaking omega and carried him back to his room.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked, falling into step behind Hunk hoping to do anything he could for Lance.

“I don’t know, but he’s freezing. And being this cold isn’t good for anyone, let alone an omega,” Hunk said quickly, holding Lance close to use his body heat to warm the icy omega. “Pidge might know something. Matt’s an omega after all.”

“Let’s take him to a pod first. Then we might have a better idea of what’s going on then,” Shiro suggested.

“I don’t think he’s sick or hurt, I just think he’s cold. Putting him in a pod will only make him colder. Let’s wait until we know what’s going on first,” Hunk said, rushing to find the green paladin.

It didn’t take long to find Pidge, she was helping with the search for Lance, and they planned on meeting in the lounge when they were done searching. Thankfully she had made it back to the lounge and hadn’t given up waiting to go back to work.

“Hey, you found him. That’s great. Where was he?” Pidge asked when Hunk waled in with Lance in his arms.

“With Blue, and he’s freezing. Something’s wrong, and I don’t know what it is,” Hunk said, laying Lance down on the empty couch.

“Crap, this is just what we needed,” Pidge said setting her laptop aside, to kneel down beside Lance. With one quick look over Pidge started barking orders. “Shiro, go find Keith and get blankets, lots of blankets. And the two of you need to scent about half of them. Hunk, go to his room and see if he’s made a nest. If he has, come back, if not grab anything soft from on or around his bed and bring it here.”

The alpha and beta quickly jumped into action racing off. In the meantime Pidge started to clear out the centre of the lounge for everything to be brought in. She’s seen Matt make nests before and just hoped she could do a somewhat okay job at making one for Lance.

She knew he needed comfort, and warmth and pack. And she knew exactly what was going on, even though she had no intentions of telling anyone.

Being told to go back to the castle in the middle of the fight had caused Lance to feel rejection, and with his system being all out of whack trying to recover from the suppressants it had made it worse by tenfold. If they didn’t fix it soon there was no telling what kind of damage it could cause Lance the longer it lasted.

Hunk came back first with blankets and pillows from Lance’s room, along with his jacket and other clothes that were laying around his room.

While Pidge worked on making the structure of the nest out of the couch cusions Hunk sat with Lance trying to warm him and wrapping the omega in blankets.

Shiro and Keith arrived just in time for Pidge to finish up with what she had from Lance’s room. She immediately took the blankets and went back to work, while Keith and Shiro sat with Hunk and Lance on the couch scenting a handful of the blankets for Pidge to use.

Fifteen minutes later there was a nest taking up the middle of the lounge area and Lance was laying in the middle of it with Hunk, underneath a pile of scented blankets from Shiro, Keith and a couple from Pidge, though her scent was quite weak because she was a beta.

After that all they could do was wait for Lance to wake up. So The alpha’s went to change and shower and left Lance in the capable hands of the betas.

 

Lance didn’t end up waking until the next morning and when he did he felt guilty for causing so much trouble. He didn’t want anyone else to have to worry about him, but was glad to wake up beside his best friend.

“Sorry,” Lance sighed when he saw Hunk was waking up.

“I’m just glad you’re okay. What happened yesterday?” the beta asked, rubbing his best friend’s back.

Lance just shook his head and buried his face in Hunk’s chest and pulled a blanket over his head to hide. Hunk just chuckled softly and held Lance tight until he was ready to talk about it.

While he waited for Lance to come around and talk to him Hunk rubbed the omega’s back trying to keep him calm. Also noticing that he had warmed up significantly, but was still too cool for his liking. Hopefully he could get some warm food into Lance soon and that would warm him up the rest of the way.

“I’m sorry,” Lance mumbled into Hunk’s side, where he was still tucked.

“There’s no need to be sorry Lance. I just want to make sure you’re alright. You really scared everyone,” Hunk said, holding his best friend close. “Do you know what caused it? Why you got so cold and passed out between Blue’s paws.”

“I got rejected,” Lance muttered, trying not to be heard. Hunk was expecting Lance to be quiet, so he was listening intently and heard the sad omega.

It took a moment for Hunk to understand what Lance meant though. No one had openly rejected Lance, and the only thing that had happened right before Lance fell unconscious was the battle with the galra. But when he realized what exactly Lance meant Hunk’s heart broke.

“No one rejected you Lance. Not intentionally anyway. Shiro was just trying to keep you safe, and we know your not quite yourself again yet,” Hunk tried to explain, hoping he wasn’t making anything worse.

“I know, but it hurt still. And I just want to go back to sleep,” Lance said, snuggling tighter into Hunk’s side to try to fall back to sleep.

“Okay Lance. You can sleep,” Hunk said, starting to run his fingers through Lance’s hair to sooth the omega to sleep.

 

About fifteen minutes later Shiro walked in with two mugs of coffee in hand. He sat on the arm of the couch and leaned over the nest to offer Hunk one of the mugs.

“How’s he doing?” Shiro asked.

“He’s warmed up and woke up for a bit. So, he’s doing better than last night, but I’m just worried about how he will be after he wakes up,” Hunk explained, trying to speak softly so he didn’t wake Lance up.

“Did you talk to him? Did he tell you what happened?” Shiro asked, worried about his teammate.

“He felt rejected. Like we didn’t need him anymore when you sent him back to the castle before the fight was done,” Hunk explained sadly.

“No, it was my fault? I have to fix this. How do I fix this?” Shiro asked, mumbling to himself, slumping over on himself feeling guilty.

“Don’t worry too much. You’re already stinking up the place. I will help you fix this, because sad and heartbroken Lance is not helpful to us at all,” Hunk promised; “But first you need to take some time and calm down, because stinking up the joint when Lance is awake wont help your case at all.”

“Sorry. I’ll go clear my head. Maybe come find me when he wakes up so we can talk,” Shiro suggested, getting up and heading for the door.

Hunk just nodded as Shiro left, continuing to sooth Lance and play with his hair to help the omega feel better and more himself when he woke up.

 

Later that day Lance was cleaning up the nest in the lounge to get all his stuff back for his own nest. Pidge had put his nesting supplies at the bottom of the next she had made for him.

He also wanted to keep all the other blankets that had been collected for him, because they smelled like his pack. So to neatly clean up the nest he was folding up all the blankets when Shiro came in to talk to him.

“Hey,” Lance greeted, sinking in on himself as he folded a blanket.

“We should talk about what happened yesterday,” Shiro said, taking a seat on the couch near Lances pile of blankets. He wanted to start simple though, not immediately jumping right into the deep end. “Do you want some help cleaning up?”

Lance just nodded, setting one of the blanket’s Pidge had scented for him in a pile away from Shiro. Then proceeded to explain his sorting order so Shiro wouldn’t mess anything up. And they started working silently side by side, though Lance was very stiff.

“I know you didn’t mean what you said yesterday. And I know you were only trying to look out for me cause I’m sick. But it still hurt, because it meant I was just getting in your way,” Lance said softly, trying not to let the pain show in his voice.

“I am sorry Lance,” Shiro said scooting closer to Lance to put a hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t stop to think about how it would feel to be taken out of a fight. That’s on me, because I know you’re still coming off of your suppressants and I was trying to look after you. But I don’t want you to feel like you’re not important because you are. You’re our sharpshooter Lance. You’re important, and I’m sorry if I made you feel like you weren’t.”

Lance couldn’t help but curl himself into Shiro’s side and hug the alpha. That took Shiro by surprise and the fell back into the remnants of the nest. He put his arm around Lance and held on for as long as the omega would allow.

“Thanks Shiro,” Lance mumbled into the alpha’s chest, not letting him go.

Taking note that the omega was not going to let go anytime soon Shiro leaned down and burried his nose in Lance’s hair. Taking in his stronger and sweeter scent. He smelled like the ocean and fresh rain. It was perfect and totally Lance.

“Do you still want my help cleaning up in here?” Shiro asked, realizing all the blankets left in the nest were from Lance’s room.

“I want to pack this stuff up myself. But, if you could carry the blankets you and Keith scented for me to my room, that would be a real help,” Lance said, finally loosening his grip on the alpha.

“Of course I can do that, but you need to let me go first,” Shiro commented playfully, trying to tease Lance.

Immediately Lance let go and scooted away from Shiro, to give him space to get up.

“Sorry,” He mumbled, turning his back on Shiro to go back to folding blankets.

“It’s alright Lance. I will always take cuddles from you. No matter what,” Shiro said touching the omega’s shoulder lightly, before getting up to move the blankets.

 

 

“I come with food,” Hunk announced as he walked into Lance’s room with dinner. The beta wasn’t sure if the omega felt up to joining everyone for dinner, and thought it best to just deliver it.

“Thanks Hunk,” Lance said happily from the corner, where he had spent the day building up his nest again.

“Sorry again for wrecking your nest. I just figured you’d need that stuff more in the one Pidge made for you,” the beta said, setting the tray of food down on the desk.

“It’s okay buddy. I needed to change it up. And besides, cleaning it all up gave me a chance to talk to Shiro and have a real heart to heart with him,” Lance said with a shrug, then pouted and started shuffling the blankets in his nest around again.

“Is there anything else you need from me or need me to do before I go eat my own dinner?” Hunk asked, taking a seat on Lance’s bed on the other side of the room from Lance’s nest. He didn’t want to intrude on the Omega’s space.

“Nothing before dinner, but if you could scent a couple blankets for me for my nest I’d really appreciate it. I couldn’t find any with just your scent on it from last night. There’s no rush though,” Lance said, not looking at Hunk as he worked to make his nest perfect.

“Of course I can do that Lance. Anything for you,” Hunk said, moving closer to the pile of blankets that Lance had left on his bed.

A quick sniff revealed they smelled mostly of Lance, but there was a hint of Hunk’s own scent from the night before. So, Hunk started to scent those and as he set one aside Lance would grab it and shove it into his nest. When handed the last blanket over Hunk could have sworn he heard the omega start to purr softly as he finished up his nest. Then the omega lay down in the nest and looked so cozy.

“How are you doing now? Are you feeling better? Worse? More like yourself?” Hunk asked, watching with a smile.

“I don’t really know. After talking to Shiro I feel more stable, and not like I’m about to burst into tears any second. I’m still achy, but I know what’s causing that. I feel better, and more in control of myself. My body’s found a balance now, I think,” The omega explained, not quite sitting up, but rather just propping himself up on his elbows to look at the beta.

“That’s good, so you’ll be back at it in no time,” Hunk chuckled.

“Yea, I guess. It’s just going to be hard to keep some thoughts to myself, because now I can smell Keith and Shiro much stronger. And now my body gives a damn about alpha’s again,” Lance grumbled.

“You’ll get through it I’m sure. You always do. But I’m going to go, cause my food’s getting cold,” Hunk said getting up and heading for the door. “And you need to remember to eat before yours gets cold.”

“Aye aye Hunk,” Lance said, giving a quick two finger salute. The beta just chuckled to himself as the door closed leaving the omega alone in his nest with a nice home cooked meal.

 

 

It took a few days for things around the castle to return to normal. Every time Lance walked into a room for the first few days heads would turn – especially those of the alphas. Everyone who was confused who smelled so sweet at least had the audacity to quickly look away when they realized it was Lance, and after a while they started to look ashamed for being so confused and transfixed by the scent.

But things did eventually return to normal, or at least as normal as things could be in the middle of an intergalactic war with fuzzy purple aliens.

The first time the team went to train as a team was interesting though. Shiro was smart enough not to have Keith and Lance spar again, instead they worked as a team to fight through waves of bots.

“Remember, cover each other’s backs. Don’t leave gaps that are too big. You know what to do,” Shiro said right as Coran set the training deck and bots started falling from the ceiling and flying out from the walls.

All the paladins had their bayard’s, and Keith had his Marmora blade as well.

At the sight of the small bots in the air Lance gets down on one knee, set’s his gun on his shoulder and starts picking them off.

It was going well. Pidge was at his back, covering the omega and zapping any bot that got too close for her liking. Hunk was also close to the other beta and omega, firing at the bots so they would stay back.

The alphas were staying close to each other, hacking and slashing their way through bot after bot.

For everyone it felt good to be pseudo killing things again. It was cathartic to be back at it as a team, even if they were just in the training deck. It was going good, until it wasn’t.

At one point about five minutes in Keith got into a fight and ended up with his Marmora blade knocked to one side and his bayard knocked to the other. The alpha was still capable with his fists, but with the high level training bots he was quickly thrown back and out of the way.

And he slid back, hitting Lance in the arm and knocking his shot to the right. The omega let out a growl and refocused his shot.

“Stay out of my way mullet,” Lance growled, trying to catch up on the bots before they could hit his teammates. Being knocked off one target gave them an extra moment to move in closer and get their sights on the team.

Keith got up with a grumble and rushed to puck up his bayard, which was the closer of his weapons. Grumbling; “Not my fault,” as he went.

The extra few seconds the bots got when Lance was forced to miss his shot was all the high level bots needed to get a shot in on the paladins. And because he was the one taking them out with great accuracy he was the main target.

So, he was the first one hit. The floor dropped out from below him at the hit and he fell like last time.

“Damn it,” Lance hissed, crawling to the wall so no one fell on top of him.

When no one followed him immediately Lance headed to the set of stairs that lead back up to the training deck and the observation room. He only made it up to the door that lead to the training deck, before plopping down on the ground to wait for his teammates, not wanting to watch how good they were doing without him there.

It was just another hit to his self-esteem. Just another example of how they were just fine without him.

Despite his armour Lance was able to pull his knees to his chest and hide his face in his knees. And he stayed like that while he waited for everyone to finish.

Pidge was the first one to spot Lance, after falling through the floor herself close to five minutes later. She took a seat next to the omega and put her arm around his back.

“You want to talk?” She asked, smelling the omega’s distress despite her less sensitive nose. Lance just shook his head, wrapping his arms around the tops of his knees to further hide his face and hide his tears.

The next person to come up the stairs was Shiro, and he was running up the stairs. He quickly knelt down the stairs and put a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Hey, what’s wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?” Shiro asked quickly, worried about the distressed omega.

Lance shook his head, curling in on himself further.

“He hasn’t said anything. I don’t think he’s hurt, but I haven’t been able to get anything out of him,” Pidge supplied, continuing to rub Lance’s back to try and sooth him.

“Lance, please talk to us. What’s going on? Why are you so upset?” Shiro asked, moving his hand from Lance’s shoulder to run his fingers through Lance’s hair.

Hunk and Keith came up not long after Shiro. Hunk slightly ahead of Keith, and upon seeing his friend on the floor he sat down opposite Pidge and pulled Lance into a hug. He pressed his forehead to the omega’s temple and started to whisper to him, trying to keep his voice low so no one else would be able to hear.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Lance shrugged.

“Is it physical?” A shrug.

“Did you get hurt from the bot?” Lance shook his head.

Hunk sighed. He was trying to ask the most basic questions so Lance could answer without having to speak if he didn’t want to. Even still it was slow going. But Hunk was getting somewhere and the more answers he got the less worried he became because it meant that whatever was going on could be fixed.

“Is this new pain?” A shrug.

“Have you felt this before?” A nod.

“Is it because you fell first?” A nod.

That sealed it for Hunk. He knew exactly what was wrong, and he knew crowding Lance was probably the worst thing they could be doing. Leaving him alone was not any better, but all being right against him was not helping at all.

“You know you’re important right?” Hunk asked, speaking a little louder so everyone could hear. The beta hoped they would catch on to what he was saying and chime in. “We wouldn’t have lasted half as long if it weren’t for you. When you fell we were all over the place. We weren’t working as a unit anymore.”

Pidge caught on quickly, because she knew Lance had had trouble feeling like he belonged to the team before. “Without you taking out the flying ones it was so much harder. We didn’t have time to think. And we were bouncing around all over the place trying to avoid being shot.”

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again until you believe me,” Shiro cut in; “We’re nothing without our sharpshooter. You watch our backs so we don’t have to. You give us the time we need to focus and get things done.”

“Without you, against that many enemies were a mess. Especially when they’re all that close to us. We need you Lance,” Keith said from his spot leaned against the opposite wall.

It took a little while, and a lot more convincing, but eventually Lance uncurled himself.

He felt unworthy of their praise, and their worry, but it helped. It helped quite a lot actually.

“Sorry I’ve been so emotional lately,” Lance said once he was on his feet again; “Guess I’m not quite back to myself yet.”

“Don’t worry about it. We could all use some attitude adjustments. It’ll just take some time,” Hunk promised, patting his best friend on the back.

“Just don’t cry about it next time,” Keith grumbled as he pushed passed everyone back into the training deck.

 

 

That night, after everyone had seemingly gone to bed, Shiro was still awake wandering the halls like he usually did. Too restless to fall asleep. To his surprise, he was not the only one still awake at that hour.

From the hall he could see the lights of the training deck on, and as he got closer he could hear grunting, growling and the sound of training bots being destroyed.

Stepping into the room, he saw Keith with both his bayard and Marmora blade in his hands. Launching himself again and again at training bots, easily cutting them down, then calling for more and more.

Shiro noted that the other alpha was pissed off about something, so instead of take the brunt of his anger he decided to take a seat on the sidelines to wait it out. Watching the way Keith fought when he was angry. It wasn’t nearly as precise as he usually fought, but it was far more frighting and just as deadly.

After about fifteen minutes Keith shut down the bots and turned to have a seat, only to spot the other alpha sitting near his things. Keith’s shoulders slumped slightly as he headed over to his things. Ignoring the other alpha he took a seat and grabbed a pouch of water, downing it quickly.

“Why are you here? It’s the middle of the night,” Keith asked, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees.

“I could be asking you the same question,” Shiro retorted, leaning forward to look sideways at Keith; “But it’s cause I can’t sleep. Usually can’t, so I wander. Why are you still up? And here no less.”

“Same. I couldn’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about Lance. About what I said to him. The stupid comment I made about not crying next time,” Keith muttered, head in his hands.

“So you’re taking it out on the training bots?” Shiro asked, and Keith just nodded. “You have it bad for him.”

“Don’t act like I’m the only one who feels this way for him. You have it just as bad,” Keith retorted, still not looking at Shiro.

“I’m not denying I have feelings for Lance. But, I’m not the one who can’t watch his mouth. And I’m not angrily attacking training bots in the middle of the night,” Shiro countered, almost sounding smug.

“What do we do? It’s only gotten worse since he’s come off his suppressants. He smells so good,” Keith groaned. “When you had us spar, it was rough and that was the day he ran out. Now it’s... I don’t know what to do.”

“If we work together we can figure it out. But if we don’t we might end up working against each other in trying to win Lance’s affections,” Shiro said.

With a sigh Keith sat up and finally turned to look at the other alpha. “You’re right. So, let’s court Lance. Together.”

“Together, after you shower and we get some sleep,” Shiro agreed.

 

 

It took about a week for the alpha’s to find their first gift for Lance. To say the castle was sparse was an understatement. There was nothing they could find that Lance would need, or something that he would at least enjoy. They also couldn’t give a good explanation to Hunk to warrant cooking anything in the kitchen, not that they would be able to cook anything with any of the weird alien ingredients Hunk had collected.

What they managed to put together was lacklustre, but it was something. They found a couple pillows that were far softer than the ones in their own rooms – having found them in the rooms used by visiting royals or dignitaries. They also had Pidge put some of the Altean books she had translated onto a flash drive for Lance.

When it came time to give the items to the omega they were nervous. Afraid it wouldn’t be enough. Or that he wouldn’t understand that they were trying to court him. Or worse yet, they would be rejected for what they were offering because it wasn’t good enough.

Very hesitantly Shiro knocked on the door, arms loaded with pillows, though he was doing his best not to scent all of them, in fear that Lance wouldn’t want them because they smelled too much like him.

Keith, on the other hand, had fewer pillows, but had the flash drive, and a container of food they had snatched from the kitchen. Leftovers from dinner the night before, that Lance seemed to adore.

Lance opened the door, revealing the two alpha’s and took a step back, surprised. He was unsure of what to make of the two alphas there, offering him nesting materials, and food.

“What’s all this?” Lance asked skeptically, trying his best not to read too much into the situation before being given an explanation.

“Well, we found these pillows on the other side of the castle and thought about your nest,” Shiro began.

“We know there’s not a whole lot of great materials around, because we’re in space and all. So we thought we’d bring them to see if you want them,” Keith continued.

“If not, that’s totally fine too. We can put them back,” Shiro said, trying to keep their hopes at a reasonable level.

“Also, we brought some food leftover from last night cause Hunk said it would still be a while before dinner. And some stuff to read from Pidge,” Keith went on.

Lance was shocked. Unsure of how to react to the two alphas in front of him, offering him soft things for his nest, food and something to read. Especially when they both seemed so nervous.

There was something in his chest, hoping they were there to court him, but the more rational part of him mind reminded him that he was the only omega on the ship and it was just instinct for alphas to want to care for omegas, especially pack mated. So he tried not to get too excited.

“That’s so sweet. Thank you,” Lance said, smiling and reaching out to take some of the pillows from Shiro.

“We can bring them in, if you want. We brought kind of a lot,” Shiro said sheepishly.

“Sure,” Lance said, and quickly stepped back and out of the way. Directing the alpha’s to put the blankets on his long unused bed. “Why the sudden gifts? Not that I mind or anything, it’s just surprising.”

“We just wanted to treat you to some nice things we found,” Shiro explained with a shrug, not wanting to be too forward and risk scaring Lance.

“Even you mullet? You care that much?” Lance joked, causing Keith to shrink back into himself slightly and turn towards the door, so the omega couldn’t see his blush.

“I care. Sometimes,” Keith muttered heading for the door.

Lance squeaked, scared he’d scared Keith off. He hurried to push past Shiro to grab Keith’s shoulder before he left.

“Don’t go. Um... thanks for all the stuff. My nest will be extra soft now thanks to you guys,” Lance said, hand still on Keith’s shoulder. “But, is that really it? Just because you found some nice nesting stuff?”

That question caused the alphas pause. Lance was giving them a chance to open up and officially start courting him.

“Yea, just though of you,” Keith answered before Shiro could, back still turned to the omega.

“I do appreciate it. Thank you,” Lance said, letting his arm drop from Keith’s shoulder sadly.

He stepped out of the way so the alphas could leave and once they were gone he sighed sadly. That shred of hope in his heart hurt, that little shred really wanted the alpha’s to be courting him.

Lance sat down on his bed and flopped face first into the pile of pillows. Only to groan in frustration into the pillows when he realized they were not scented by the alphas. They smelled faintly of the alphas, from being held by the alphas, but he knew the scent would not last terribly long and that too saddened him.

Out in the hall Shiro and Keith weren’t doing much better than Lance. Keith was kicking himself for not telling Lance they wanted to court him. He was just so scared he would be rejected. Even if they fought the relationship he had with Lance was still fun. He enjoyed being teased by the omega, from time to time, and if he was rejected Keith feared he would loose that playfulness with Lance.

“Why didn’t you tell him? I was about to,” Shiro asked when they were down the hall enough that they were fairly sure they wouldn’t be heard.

“I’m scared he’ll reject me, reject both of us. I’ve never done this before. I’ve never wanted to do this before. I’m scared I’ll mess it up for both of us,” Keith explained, slumping against the wall.

“Next time he asks, or the next time we bring him gifts we tell him. Okay?” Shiro said.

“I make no promises, but if you want to tell him I’m all for it. I just don’t know if I can,” Keith admitted.

“Okay, if that’s what will make you more comfortable I can absolutely do that. If we become Lance’s mates, we both become each other’s mates too, and I take care of my mates,” Shiro said, taking Keith’s hand and bringing it up to kiss the back of his hand.

The smaller alpha smiled and leaned forward to hug the larger one, burring his head in Shiro’s chest.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Lance was perched high in the vent above where Pidge was working to infiltrate the inner workings of the galra battle cruiser to gain more information on their movements and plans. He was her lookout, because the galra had an affinity for putting their man control terminals in the middle of a wide open room, with way too many doors for it to be safe.

Meanwhile Keith and Shiro were searching the cells for prisoners and Hunk had hung back with green and red to keep their exit route clear.

So far, it was going great. Lance had picked off the few sentries that had made it into the room without much difficulty. Keith and Shiro had managed to clear out the prison cells, and were headed back to the lions to get the few prisoners they had found out.

“Shiro, two halls down to the left there are two galra soldiers. They looked armed, but unaware of our presence. But they’re right on your route back to the lions,” Pidge warned, watching the security cameras while she worked.

Shiro quickly relayed the information to Keith, as he was not in his paladin armour, but rather his Blade of Marmora suit.

“I’ve got it handled. You stay back with them. I’ll deal with the soldiers,” Keith said, and after a quick sweep of the room Lance glanced down at the moniters to watch Keith.

The smaller alpha pushed his way to the front and ducked around the corner. There were a couple places to hide between him and the galra soldiers, so they wouldn’t know he was there.

Keith activated his bayard, before jumping out and cutting through the galra soldiers, or at least that was what he intended. Instead, it took a lot longer than anticipated to cut down the first galra. Leaving the second enough time to prepare for an attack, and striking at Keith before the first had fallen.

“Ack!” Keith shouted as the galra cut deep into his leg with their claws and wracked it down his thigh.

The pain only added fuel to the fire as Keith lay into the second galra. Unfortunately, he was not prepared for the feral nature of the galra he was up against. Not expecting the teeth and claws, when they usually used weaponry.

By the end of it Keith was slumped against the wall and was barely standing on his own. His arms were covered in deep bite marks and his left leg and across his abdomen was slashed open. As it turned out being in his Blade suite was not as durable for battle like his paladin armour was.

“Hall’s clear,” Keith panted, trying to make his voice heard down the hall.

The other alpha didn’t hear him, and had to wait for Pidge’s all clear.

“Pidge, I’m going to go meet up with Keith and Shiro. Keith can barely stand on his own so they’re going to be defenceless,” Lance said, climbing down from the vent.

“I’m done here, so I’ll be right behind you,” Pidge agreed, as Lance was running out of the room.

He sprinted down corridors, shooting everything and anything that got in his way. His instincts telling him to run faster, to get to the hurt alpha, to care for him. To make sure he is okay. Even as he ran at top speed, not caring about remaining hidden anymore, his instincts were pushing him to go faster, move quicker, no matter the cost.

He finally caught up to Shiro, Keith and the freed prisoners just as they were making it to the lions. Keith was unconscious in Shiro’s arms as, blood dripping to the floor leaving a trail behind them.

“How are we going to get red out of here? We can’t all fit in green and we can’t leave red to the galra again,” Hunk asked as Shiro approached.

“We’ll figure it out. Just get these guys into green,” Shiro said, stepping aside so the aliens could follow Hunk.

“I have an idea,” Lance said, coming up behind Shiro. “Let me take him. You guys wait for Pidge, I’ll get him back to the castle.”

Lance had put his bayard away and was holding his arms out to take the smaller alpha. Once Keith was in his arms Lance ran into red, right into the cockpit.

Nervously he sat down in the pilot seat, with Keith across his lap, head pillowed on his shoulder. His hands were bloody from just holding Keith for just a moment, but he still grabbed the controls, focusing for a moment.

“Please Red. I know I’m not your paladin, but he’s right here and he’s hurt bad. He needs a pod, and we can’t wait for Pidge to fly green back,” Lance pleaded.

A moment passed, before red took off. It surprised everyone that such a temperamental lion would actually respond to anyone but Keith. But Lance was so grateful that his plan worked.

“Coran, get a pod. I’m on my way back with Keith and he doesn’t look good,” Lance said loudly, trying to remain calm but could feel his composure faltering.

“I’m on it my boy. Just get him back here and I’ll be ready for you,” Coran agreed.

By the time Red landed and Lance ran Keith in Coran had a pod ready. They were quick to change him out of the bloody uniform and into the white bodysuit of the pod. Even the quick look Lance got of the injuries was enough to know that paired with all the blood that was on the floor in the galra ship, all the blood on Shiro and himself, and all the blood in red’s cockpit Keith was in bad shape.

Once the alpha was in the pod Lance planted himself right outside, watching him. Coran said it would probably be a few days before released from the pod, but that didn’t deter Lance.

When the others got back, Shiro headed right for Lance. Leaving Hunk, Pidge, Coran and Allura to talk to the freed prisoners and help them. He knelt down beside the omega and pulled him into a hug.

The moment Lance was in Shiro’s arms he broke down and began sobbing into the alpha’s chest. Shiro just held the omega tightly, just being there to support him while he was wanted.

Hunk came over after about half an hour to coax Lance and Shiro out of their armour, so it could get cleaned up. It really took some coaxing to get Lance to let go of Shiro, but eventually they got Lance to go get changed and take a shower.

Shiro went to Lance’s room to check on him and make sure he was feeling better after he had cleaned himself and his armour up. When he didn’t find the omega in his own room he headed back down to the pods. After seeing how distraught he was before there was a good chance the omega would be back down checking on Keith.

To his surprise Lance was fast asleep on the floor in front of Keith’s pod. Despite the obvious discomfort of sleeping on the floor Shiro smiled. Lance was acting like a distraught mate, like they were already connected even though they were not officially courting each other.

For a moment Shiro considered carrying Lance back to his room so he could rest more comfortable. He quickly dismissed that thought, feeling that it would cause Lance more distress moving him from where he wanted to be – with Keith.

Instead Shiro went and collected things to make a small bed on the floor. Deciding to get blankets, pillows and other soft things from Keith’s room. To wrap the omega in the other alphas scent when he was so worried about him.

When he went back to the pod room he tucked the pillow under Lance’s head and laid the two blankets he found him as well. As the alpha was going to leave a hand reached out and loosely grabbed his shirt.

Turning back Lance had grabbed Shiro’s pant leg even though he was still just on the edge of sleep.

“Stay, please. I don’t want to be alone,” Lance whimpered, and Shiro couldn’t say no.

 

 

It took two days for Keith to come out of the pod, and Lance was right out front waiting. He almost sleep on the floor again Coran had said he might come out some time in the middle of the night or right in the morning. Either way Lance wanted to be there, waiting for him when he got out so he wouldn’t be all alone when he woke up.

When Keith’s pod began to hiss open Lance hopped to his feet and caught Keith before he could stumble too far.

The alpha buried his face in the omegas shoulder, acting before he could really think. It took him a moment to realize what he was doing and back off.

“Sorry. I’m not thinking straight right now,” Keith sighed, moving farther back and away from Lance.

“Don’t worry about it. How are you feeling?” Lance asked, moving back to the make-shift bed that still lay on the floor.

“Fine, just stiff. I should go train. From the look of things I’ve been in there a few days,” Keith said, turning and heading for the door.

“No!” Lance shouted after him, running to stop the alpha before he could get too far. “It’s the middle of the night, and Shiro told me that if you woke up you weren’t allowed to train.”

That was a lie. Shiro had said no such thing, but the omega was worried about his friend and didn’t want him getting hurt on the training deck right after he got out of a pod. He knew from experience from the pod it took a few hours to fully wake up and be fully aware.

Maybe it was different for Keith though, being half-galra. Lance knew the Alteans really had no trouble coming out of the pods – for more than a minute or two anyway. But it would seem humans reacted differently to the pods, so Lance wasn’t sure where Keith fell in that.

Keith grumbled for a moment, before giving in with a roll of his eyes.

“Why don’t we go get something to eat? Hunk said there were leftovers in the kitchen if you were hungry when you woke up,” Lance suggested, with a shrug.

“You’re not going to leave me alone until I’m back in my room are you?” Keith assumed, raising his eyebrow suspiciously.

“I just want to make sure you take care of yourself,” Lance said, looking down a little ashamed.

Keith smirked. He would never admit it to the omega before him but he was glad Lance was worried about him. Well, not glad that he was worried, but that he cared enough about Keith to fuss over his well being. It was a nice change from their constant arguing.

“Sure. I am a bit hungry,” Keith agreed, and the smile Lance gave him made it all worth it.

“Just give me a sec to go collect some stuff I was using to sleep by your pod,” Lance said, turning to go grab the blankets and pillow Shiro had brought him.

Keith was confused, until he saw the bedding. He could also smell the bedding as he got closer and could smell his own scent.

“Is that from my room?” Keith asked when Lance got closer.

“Yea, Shiro brought it for me. I fell asleep outside your pod last night, so Shiro brought me stuff from your room. I’m not sure why he grabbed the stuff from your room, and not mine or some storage room,” Lance said with a shrug. “I know you don’t usually like your stuff being touched, but it was nice being wrapped in your scent while I waited for you.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s go get food,” Keith said dismissively, though he was really excited that Lance wanted to use his stuff. He hoped it would make it easier to court the omega, when they did get around to officially asking Lance if he and Shiro could court him.

Heading to the kitchen, Keith took a seat after Lance promised to heat up his food. While he waited Keith folded up the blanket’s Lance had been using, enjoying how the omega’s scent clung them. He was definitely going to enjoy that while it lasted.

When Lance brought the plate of food over he sat down across the table from Keith and leaned back in his seat happily.

“Thanks for looking out for me, and staying until I woke up,” Keith said after eating half his plate of food.

“Of course. You’re part of the pack, and its my job to take care of the pack as the only Omega on the ship,” Lance said with a shrug, trying to stay calm and play it off like he would do it for anyone.

Truly he would care for any member of his pack, but maybe not to the extent of sitting outside a pod for two days straight, sleeping there every night. That was just because he was really worried about Keith, really cared for him.

Once Keith was done he dumped his plate in the sink to deal with in the morning and collected his blankets from the table. Lance was waiting for him at the table, falling into step beside him as they headed back to their sleeping quarters.

When they reached Keith’s room both men stopped and turned to look t each other.

“Thanks again for waiting up for me. It was nice to not wake up alone,” Keith said, holding the blankets in front of his chest nervously. His heart was nearly beating out of his chest from spending time alone with Lance where they weren’t arguing.

“Of course. I was really worried about you,” Lance said, slowly stepping back; “Get some rest.”

“You too. I hear you slept on the floor for a night and I know from experience the floor is not a great place to sleep,” Keith said, trying to be playful before scurrying back into his room. He didn’t mean to be playful with Lance, but it was kind of fun.

The second after the door to Keith’s room closed Lance’s face heated up, heart racing as well. He wasn’t sure, but it felt like Keith was flirting with him. Lance had to stifle that hope though, afraid of getting his hopes too high only to be crushed later.

Lance went back into his room, climbing into his nest and immediately digging through his nest to find the thing that smelled most like Keith. It was dull, but he found a blanket that Keith had scented when he came off his suppressants. And he cuddled it tight until he fell asleep.

 

 

A trip to the space mall was exactly what everyone needed. Travelling through space in the castle was great and all, but it got boring, and despite it being so empty it was getting quite cramped. Everyone just needed some space from each other.

Allura volunteered to stay behind and watch the castle while everyone got a break and went shopping. Hunk went to get groceries, Pidge went back to the earth shop to find some earth tech, and possibly another gaming system. Keith went in search of nothing in particular, just wandering around just to be alone, and Shiro went wild. He had never be there before and was enjoying checking out a new place that was not dangerous.

Lance, well he didn’t know what to do. His heat was coming soon, and he wanted to do so much and nothing all at the same time. He wanted to stay back to fix up his nest, and take some things that smelled of his pack for his nest. He also wanted to get out of the castle for a little bit for a bit of a change. He wanted to find nesting materials, but he also wanted to just relax before he went through his first heat in years.

In the end he ended up back by the fountain he and Pidge had collected all their coin from the last time they were at the mall for the console. He sat for a while, just watching all the aliens. Some from planets he recognized – though never seeing anyone he knew – and others that caught his interest, hoping they could get to their planet one day. It was nice for a little while, just to be out of the castle before he would be locked away in his room.

About an hour in Keith and Shiro found each other. Neither had spent any of the allowance they had been given. They continued to wander, still having plenty of time before they were due to be back at the pod to leave.

“Should we get something for Lance?” Keith asked after a little while of silent wandering; “We are trying to court him after all, and so far we’ve given him pillows and food without asking if he would be okay with us courting him.”

“I was thinking about that. I just don’t know what he would like, or what would be appropriate,” Shiro said a little sadly because he didn’t really know much about the omega he cared for.

“Would soft things for his nest be too forward? I was never really taught how to properly court anyone,” Keith said, slightly ashamed and slightly upset that that had been taken from him.

“On our way here I could smell preheat on him, so it would be a good time if we were going to. But, maybe we only get a few things. We don’t want to overwhelm him with a lot right away,” Shiro suggested. Keith quickly agreed, then they were off to find the softest blankets, pillows, bedding and other soft things for Lance’s nest.

They ended up finding some fuzzy blankets, they chose three – blue, red and black – they found a thick comforter that would make a nice padding and would keep him warm if he needed it. Finally there was a stuffed animal each, from Keith a hippo – that he was tempted to keep himself because it was that adorable – and from Shiro a black and white cat.

On their way back to the pod they found the store with ll the earth things, and bought a handful of books in a variety of languages, anything that looked interesting or had compelling art. If Pidge could translate Altean and Galra then she could translate just about any earth language. They were mostly for themselves, but wouldn’t be opposed to sharing with Lance.

Meanwhile, Lance had finally gotten up from his spot beside the fountain. He knew there were things he wanted and needed. So, he went to look for them or find something similar.

It took a while but he found what he was looking for. A pair of pyjamas that were soft and larger than the ones he owned for comfort. He also got a couple shirts that were much too big – that were clearly not made for humans – some even had extra sleeves which Lance didn’t mind because they were soft. He also got a few sturdy pillows for nesting as well as a thin blanket that felt almost like silk.

Once he had collected all his materials he made his way back to the pod, being the last to arrive. He wasn’t late, everyone was just early and had finished their shopping and headed back to the pod.

“Are we ready to go?” Coran asked, loading everything that had been bought into the pod, while leaving space for the paladins to fit in the back with it.

It was a resounding yes. Pidge got up front with Coran, while the boys all got in the back. Keith and Shiro side by side, with Lance and Hunk across from them. The journey back wasn’t long, but even still Lance rest his head on Hunks shoulder his body starting to fatigue in order to prepare for the upcoming heat.

The alpha’s felt bad for not being able to help, but they were also a little glad. It meant he wasn’t looking at what everyone bought and everything would be a surprise when they gifted it to Lance later.

When they arrived back at the castle Lance quickly grabbed his bags and headed to his room. Focused solely on adding his new purchases to his nest, and preparing his nest for his heat.

The alpha’s help Hunk with the groceries, before taking what they had bought back to Shiro’s room to scent things and talk out their plan. About when the best time to talk to Lance was and how they were going to ask if they could court the omega.

Deciding to wait until after dinner, so they didn’t disturb the omega while he was working on his nest. So close to Lance’s heat they didn’t want to make him feel unsafe in his own space if he rejected them in his nesting space.

 

 

After dinner Lance stuck around to help Hunk clean up the dishes. That gave Keith and Shiro time to go get their gifts and make their way back. They made it back just in time for Hunk to be walking out of the kitchen.

He spotted the alpha’s as he rounded the corner and smiled at the sight. Arms filled with soft things for the omega.

“He’ll be done in a sec. He’s just collecting food for his nest,” Hunk said softly as he passed the alphas.

“Thanks Hunk,” Shiro replied, before leading the way into the kitchen. He set the folded blankets he was carrying on the table, with the stuffed cat on top. “Lance, can we talk for a couple minutes? Keith and I have something to ask.”

Lance jumped and spun on his heels. He hadn’t heard anyone walk in, and hadn’t expected anyone to walk in on him raiding the cupboards for food to hide in his nest for his heat.

“Yea, sure. What...?” Lance trailed off when he saw the blankets on the table and in Keith’s arms.

“Come sit. This is important, and I want all of us to feel comfortable while we talk,” Shiro said, pulling out a seat and offering it to Lance.

Lance set the food he had collected down on the counter, and hesitantly made his way to the table. Keith had set what he was carrying down on the table as well and had taken a seat across the table from Lance, and waited for Shiro to sit beside him.

“What’s all this?” Lance asked, wary of everything that was going on. Afraid to read too much into it.

“That’s what we wanted to talk about. Both Keith and I hope to court you. We care for you deeply, have for as long as we’ve been a pack. Before you came off your suppressants I was nervous to voice my interest because most beta’s I have known don’t care for alphas. I know I shouldn’t have made that assumption about you and I most certainly should not make that assumption that because you are an omega you’ll want an alpha, let alone both of us...” Shiro rambled, trying to convey his feelings.

Keith had to cut in though, before Shiro dug them into a deep hole which they could not recover from. “What Shiro is trying to say is, we’ve both cared for you and had feelings for you for quite some time now. And we care about each other too, so we were hoping to court you and win your affections together.”

Lance was speechless. He never thought either one of them would ever return his interest, let alone both of them. Every part of him was screaming at him to accept their request and begin courting each other. But there was one tiny rational part of his mind that questioned it.

What if they were lying? What if they only cared about him because he was an omega? Why hadn’t they tried courting him before he ran out of suppressants? Did they really care about him, or did they just want him because he was going into heat?

Really, there was only one way to find out the truth. As much as it pained Lance to do it he had to.

“I can’t make a decision like that right now. My heat is going to start in the next day or two and I can hardly focus. It’s not fair to you if we rush into things. I’m not rejecting you, I just need time to think when I’m not so driven by hormones. I hope you understand,” Lance said, wrapping his arms around his stomach.

It pained him greatly to say that. To give a maybe, because without saying definitively one way or another there was a chance he would never get to decide. The alphas might consider him not worth their time and he had to live with that decision.

“We understand. We can talk more when you’re feeling up to it,” Shiro said with a sad smile.

He wanted Lance to say yes, both alphas did, but he also understood that asking right before Lance’s heat was a risk. It was worth it though, because hopefully it meant Lance was open to the idea. Not being rejected was the best they could hope for.

“These are for you, if you want them,” Keith said, pointing to the blankets. “You don’t have to take them of course.”

“If you take them we know it’s not you accepting our courting. We just know there’s not much in the way of soft things in space, so we collected what we could,” Shiro explained.

“Thank you,” Lance said, turning to look at the pile. He wanted the stuff so bad. It looked so soft and he could just imagine where it would fit in his nest. He was torn, because it would be accepting a gift from two alphas who just requested to court him. “Can you put all of it outside my room? I still have stuff I want to take back with me.”

“We can do that for you,” Shiro agreed, getting to his feet.

“And if there’s anything else you need from us just ask,” Keith offered, picking up his pile.

“Thank you,” Lance said again.

The second the alphas were gone Lance fell forward onto the table, feeling unsure. Had he made the right decision.

After taking a few minutes to collect himself Lance went back to collecting food. By the time he left the bag he had found was stuffed full of food. He was glad they had gone to the space mall, and that Hunk had thought of him and bought some snack foods for Lance.

The moment he got back to his room he grabbed the blankets Shiro and Keith had gifted him and went about adding them to his nest and fixing it up for his heat. He didn’t notice it until he went to add the blanket to his nest that not everything was scented. Keith had scented the red fuzzy blanket and the hippo stuffed animal. Shiro scented the black fuzzy blanket and the cat stuffed animal. They both scented the comforter for Lance, and left the blue blanket scentless for Lance.

Once he had added all the new things to his nest, and set the food and water in it’s place Lance happily fell asleep. He hadn’t realized that his nest felt incomplete without Keith and Shiro’s scents, but being wrapped in the alpha’s scent felt nice and it felt right.

 

 

The next morning Lance was not at breakfast. Immediately Shiro and Keith were put on edge. Not because they were worried, but because they knew Lance was in heat and there was something instinctual in them that wanted to go to the omega.

That week they spent a lot of time on the training deck just slashing through training bots. Meanwhile everyone else stayed far away from the two alphas with how on edge they were.

By the end of the week everyone was exhausted. The alphas and omega were not the only ones who Lance’s heat took a toll on. The beta’s and Altean’s were all tiptoeing around the alphas, not wanting to set them off, and Hunk was doing his best to look after Lance without setting the alphas off with Lance’s scent or cries for the alphas.

By the end of it everyone was glad Lance’s heat was over.

Unfortunately, just because they were all tired and recovering from Lance’s heat didn’t mean they were no longer in the middle of a war. The first morning Lance came out of his room after his heat they got a distress call from a near by planet. So with groans they all got up from their breakfasts and went to gear up while Coran flew them closer to the planet in distress.

As they got closer the paladins took off in their lions, taking the lead to keep the castle safe.

“Keith take the lead. Pidge, early warning. Hunk and Lance, hang back with me. Let the others scout ahead,” Shiro ordered, slowing down to fall back between Yellow and Blue.

Keith took off ahead, using Reds speed to zip off and scouting ahead.

“Scans show two battle cruisers in orbit and one heading down to the surface. Planet’s swarmed with fighter jets. We’ll have our hands full,” Pidge reported from her scans.

“Coran, we might need covering fire. Hang close,” Shiro instructed.

“What’s the plan?” Lance asked, speaking up for the first time all morning. He still sounded exhausted and weak.

“We don’t know much of what’s going on. Keep it in the air, and try to take out the cruiser heading for the surface before it gets there. Let’s try to keep off the planet until we need to,” Shiro ordered, before picking up speed to close the distance with Keith.

Coming upon the planet they started firing on the battle cruiser before they were noticed. Quickly the galra started firing back.

Lance was taking more hit than usual, his reflexes slowed by his exhaustion. He was doing his best, but the fighters were faster.

“Hunk, the ion cannon!” Pidge yelled, seeing one had come back online and was charging up.

“Wait. Let’s all move between the two cruisers. Maybe we can get it to hit the other ship,” Lance suggested as he fired at some of the fighters and took another hit to Blue’s side.

“Lance, get to the other side of the battle cruiser. Not in between the two cruisers,” Keith ordered, worried about the omega.

“Let’s do Lance’s plan. Keep between the cruisers or on the far side of the other one. It’s worth a shot,” Shiro ordered.

“I’ll stay close to the cruiser to take it out once it’s fired or if don’t see things going our way,” Hunk said, as Yellow’s mouth blade appeared and he sliced through the side of the battle cruiser.

Lance was getting bashed around. For every fighter he took out, another smashed into him knocking him sideways. He was getting knocked around and pushed around and unable to keep himself on a stable course.

In trying to get to the other side of the cruiser to use it as cover Lance left himself open. Seeing the struggling blue paladin the ion cannon was aimed right at him. The cannon fired and too late the other paladins saw the target.

“Lance!” Everyone shouted, stopping mid-combat in fear.

The blue paladin was hit and the next sight the paladins got of the blue lion was it drifting back and going belly up. The fighters were still firing on the lion, even though it was unresponsive.

Shiro snapped out of his daze first, remembering they were still in the middle of a battle.

“Hunk, the ion cannon before it fires again. Keith, cover Lance, keep the fighters off of him. Pidge, we need to get rid of these cruisers. Coran, we need all the help we can get, we can’t form Voltron right now,” Shiro ordered.

It took a long moment before anyone else reacted. Keith was next, springing into action. Not a single fighter stood a chance against him once he was angry. Within seconds every fighter that had swarmed Lance was destroyed and Keith planted himself right in front of Blue.

Hunk was next, and the ion cannon was destroyed in mere moments, ripped right off the front of the cruiser. There was no fixing that.

After that it didn’t take long. Four angry paladins with covering fire from the Alteans, the battle was over in about ten minutes. Then Hunk and Shiro grabbed Blue and brought her and Lance back to the castle.

Keith and Pidge arrived first and met the others in Black’s hanger. It was big enough to fit two lions, so that was where they landed Blue.

“Blue is completely offline,” Allura said when they got back to the castle.

They didn’t need to be told that. Blue was on her side, eyes black and jaw slightly open. When Keith and Shiro made their way over to the lion there was no reaction.

“I’ll go check on Lance,” Keith volunteered, squeezing into blue’s mouth.

There was a real fear for what he would find. Would Lance still be alive? Or did the blast from the cannon kill him? Keith didn’t know what to do if Lance was dead. He didn’t know if he could handle that.

“Lance,” Keith called, taking off his helmet.

There was no answer as Keith made his way further in. The cockpit was black. It was scary to see the lion so lifeless

What was also frightening was seeing Lance, still in the pilot seat arms hanging over the armrests, slumped over on his console.

Keith rushed over to the blue paladin at the sight and sat him up, leaning over to look at his face. Lance’s eyes were shut, lips parted and the rest of his face was obscured by a shattered visor.

The alpha pulled off Lance’s helmet, tossing it aside and putting a hand in front of the other’s mouth and nose, feeling for breath. Thankfully he was still breathing, but just barely. Feeling that was a giant weight off his chest

Keith tossed his own helmet to the side so he could lift Lance. He cradled the omega tight to his chest, heading out of the unresponsive lion.

“He’s alive!” Keith shouted as he made his way back into Blue’s mouth; “Can you get the jaw open wider so I can get Lance out?”

“On it. Shiro?” Hunk said, grabbing the lower jaw and pushing with all his might.

It took the alpha a moment to act. After hearing Keith say Lance was alive he felt so relieved, because they could put him in a pod and heal him.

Between Hunk and Shiro they got the lions jaw opened wide enough for Keith to pass Lance off to Shiro. Then the black paladin took off to the pods, everyone else following close after.

Coran had a pod ready for Lance, and with a quick outfit change he was put in a pod.

“He’ll be almost as long as Keith was last time,” Coran said sadly, putting his hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

“Then I’ll do what he did for me and stay here. So he doesn’t have to be alone,” Keith said, not even noticing anyone else was there.

Pidge went to make a comment, to lighten the mood but Hunk stopped her and shook his head. It was not the time nor the place to poke fun. This was serious and Blue was still shut down in Black’s hanger

Shiro and Keith didn’t notice as everyone else slowly made their way out. Coran making his way back to the bridge, as Allura had made her way down to the planet to talk to their leaders about the attack. Pidge and Hunk made their way to their rooms to change, then headed down to Black’s hanger to check out Blue and work on how to fix her.

 

 

It took five days for Lance to come out of the pod, and Keith and Shiro stayed right outside his pod the whole time. If one of them had to leave for any reason the other wouldn’t move an inch.

When Pidge begged and pleaded for them to change out of their armour and get some rest, they went one at a time. When they returned they brought bedding to make a small space to sleep. There was always one of them seated right in front of the pod waiting for Lance to wake up.

After the first day Hunk started bringing meals to them when they didn’t show up. Hunk knew something was up from before Lance’s heat, but wasn’t sure the extent of what went on. From the alphas actions something big had happened, like they were courting him. So, when he brought food he said nothing just handed them plates and came to collect them an hour later.

When the pod hissed open Keith jumped to his feet, catching Lance as he stumbled out. Not even a second later Lance was crying and his knees gave out. Keith lowered them both to the floor, holding on tightly to Lance as he cried.

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay. You’re alive,” Keith whispered, rubbing Lance’s back to calm him.

“I’m alive,” Lance muttered, burying his face in Keith’s shoulder. Taking in the alpha’s calming scent. “I’m alive. The ion cannon... and I’m alive.”

Lance was in disbelief. He’d seen the ion cannon fire at him, and he could do nothing about it. He’d thought for sure he was dead. To wake up, in Keith’s arms of all people, was heaven.

“It’s alright Lance. You made it. You’re alive. You’re safe here with us, and you’re alive,” Shiro said, kneeling down beside them wrapping himself around both men.

Lance just kept mumbling ‘I’m alive. I’m alive,’ like a mantra. Like he still couldn’t believe it.

After a long moment Lance sat back on his knees, put one hand on Keith’s cheek and kissed him.

It took Keith completely by surprise, but he recovered quickly. Hand on Lance’s back pulling the omega closer. When Lance pulled back he quickly turned and wrapped his arm around Shiro’s neck, kissing the larger alpha.

Once again Lance was the one to pull away again, breathing heavily. He was smiling, looking between the two alphas.

“You asked me before my heat if you could court me. There’s your answer,” Lance sighed, pulling himself closer to the alphas into a tight embrace. “We’re in a war, and you never know when any one of us could die. And I need you both to know how much I care for you before anything else happens.”

 

 

Keith, Shiro and Lance spend the night in Keith’s room. Lance didn’t want to be alone, and the alphas were happy to oblige. Unfortunately the next morning they had to get right back to work.

Lance had to clean up his room from his heat, and after sitting for a week untouched it smelled ripe. Parts of his nest had hardened from his dried slick. There was garbage everywhere and everything needed a good scrub.

He started by separating his blankets, most of which needed to be washed. And everything that the alphas had scented had to be washed, which saddened Lance a little bit.

At lunch Shiro stopped by to check on Lance and bring him to lunch.

“Lance, how’s it going?” Shiro asked walking into his room.

The sight Shiro came across was a little pathetic. Lance was sitting in the remnants of his nest – which was mostly pillows – clutching onto the comforter the alphas had given him. The rest of the room was piles of blankets and other nesting materials, and there was a pile of food wrappers and empty water pouches in the corner of the room.

The only reply Shiro got was a whimper from Lance. He rushed over to the edge of the nest, stopping and kneeling down at the side closest to Lance and looking at the omega.

“What’s wrong Lance?” Shiro asked, wanting to reach out and touch the omega to sooth him, but knew better than to enter an omegas nest without being invited.

“I have to wash everything. The scents will be gone,” Lance mumbled into the blanket.

“Oh Lance. Can I come into your nest? I just want to hold you until everything’s better,” Shiro asked, wanting to do more than just look at Lance.

Lance nodded, moving over so Shiro could fit beside him. Immediately the alpha climbed in and pulled Lance into his nest, he wrapped his arms around the omega’s waist and held him tightly.

He put his chin on Lance’s shoulder and whispered; “Keith and I can re-scent anything you want, and I’m sure Pidge and Hunk would be more than glad to do the same. If you want, I’ll help you wash everything and clean up in here if you want, but right now we need to go for lunch.”

It took a moment, but Lance sagged back against Shiro’s chest, dropping the comforter.

“Let’s go eat,” Lance agreed, but made no move to get up.

Shiro moved his hands from Lance’s waist to under his knees and lifted him up as he stood up. Lance squeaked, latching on tightly to Shiro’s arms.

“Nope, put me down,” Lance said immediately, afraid he as about to fall.

Shiro chuckled, lowering Lance to his feet. He grabbed Lance’s hand immediately and lead him towards the door.

Reaching the table in the dining room Shiro spotted Keith already sitting at the table and guided Lance over to him. He offered the seat beside Keith to the omega, before taking his own seat on Lance’s other side.

“We’re going to help Lance clean up his room after we eat,” Shiro said offhandedly to Keith.

“Sure. I was just going to train after we ate, but that can wait,” Keith agreed.

“You don’t have to. Really, it’s okay. I can do it,” Lance said, not wanting to be a bother to the alphas.

“We want to help you Lance. You stayed with us in my room last night. We’re dating. That means you can ask for help, and we can help you with stuff,” Keith said, taking Lance’s free hand.

“That still feels so surreal,” Lance said, squeezing both of his boyfriends hands.

“We are real, and we’re here for you,” Shiro said, returning the squeeze of the hand.

 

 

 

Lance had been invited to train with Shiro and Keith. He was still not even close to their skill level with his newly discovered Altean Broadsword form of his bayard. He still had a lot to learn, and watching how Keith worked with his sword was a good place to start.

The alphas had already started training when he arrived at the training deck. He didn’t want to disturb them, so he kept close to the walls and dropped his stuff with Keith and Shiro’s. He sat down to stretch, bayard my his side, and watched Keith and Shiro as he worked.

It was nice watching his big strong alphas fighting the training bots. Muscles flexing and sweat pouring down their bodies.

At one point in the middle of the fight Keith decided to abandon his shirt, tossing it to the side with the rest of his stuff. Fortunately, or unfortunately – it depended on who you asked – it hit Lance in the chest. The omega caught the shirt, and was hit hard with the alpha’s sweaty musk.

Like a switch flipped in his body Lance immediatly felt himself start to produce slick, from just the alphas scent. He knew there was no training that would be happening if he stuck around. Scrambling to his feet, shirt clutched tightly in his hand, Lance headed for the door.

“Where are you going Lance? You just got here,” Keith called, seeing the other heading for the door.

“I have to go!” Lance called, hoping to get out of there before the alphas started to smell him.

“What? Why?” Keith asked, running over and grabbing Lance by the wrist, stopping him.

“I just have to go Keith. Please,” Lance begged, close to tears. He was incredibly embarrassed that just the alphas sweaty shirt had turned him on as much as it had.

“Keith, let him go,” Shiro said from a few steps back, making his way over to his boyfriends.

“Why?” Keith asked, looking between the two men. Feeling like he was the only one who didn’t understand anything that was going on.

“He just needs to go,” Shiro said, one hand resting on Keith’s shoulder, the other reaching out to pull his hand off of Lance’s wrist.

The omega whimpered, embarrassed. Shiro understood what was going on – which was helpful – but was also incredibly embarrassing.

All of a sudden Keith’s body went rigid, head turning to Lance in a preditory manor. Having caught a whiff of Lance’s slick.

Lance scurried back, and Keith tried to follow him. Thankfully Shiro had a good grasp on the other alpha, and he was able to hold him back.

“Lance go. Get to your room and keep the door locked until I come find you,” Shiro ordered, as Keith fought tooth and nail to get out of his grasp.

“I’m sorry,” Lance whimpered, before turning and booking it out of the training deck and right to his room.

He dropped Keith’s shirt into his nest and ran right into his small bathroom, getting into the shower. He did his best to scrub the scent off of him He hated smelling like slick. He was embarrassed as hell and felt so guilty about setting Keith off and leaving Shiro to deal with it.

 

 

Meanwhile Shiro had pinned Keith to the floor in the training hall, face inches away from the other alphas. He was not going to let Keith go and do something he would regret, and he was not going to let Lance get hurt. It was his job to protect them both, and so far he hadn’t done a great job – by his own standards – in recent weeks.

“Keith, snap out of it,” Shiro growled. He was older, and larger, so Keith should have listened to him.

“Let me go Shiro. He smelled so good. I need him,” Keith groaned, thrashing around wildly to get out of Shiro’s grip.

His words were not getting through to the other alpha. At the rate they were going they never would, and they couldn’t stay like they were forever. Eventually they would have to get up.

Shiro decided he needed to do something else, something physical to get through to Keith. So, he moved his flesh hand from Keith’s shoulder to his neck, pushing his head back, keeping his jaw closed. Leaving just enough pressure to cut off most of his breath, but not completely choke him.

“Stop,” Shiro commanded, barring his teeth. “Control yourself. You’re going to hurt Lance if you keep this up. He was terrified of you. Pull yourself together.”

It took a moment, but eventually Keith’s eyes seemed to clear and his furious expression turned to one of pain and fear. Shiro had gotten through to him.

Keith was terrified of himself. Of what he’d almost done. Of what he would have done if Shiro hadn’t stopped him. His already weak breaths picked up speed to almost gasps. He was terrified of what damage he’d done to Lance. Would he even trust Keith again? Or had he ruined everything by letting his instincts take over.

Shiro pulled his hand off Keith’s neck and sat back, releasing the other alpha. Though he stayed on top of Keith’s legs, just in case.

“What have I done?” Keith cried, throwing his arms over his face.

“Nothing you can’t fix,” Shiro promised.

 

 

Keith went to Lance’s room a couple hours later, after giving himself to cool off and make sure his head was clear. He hoped he hadn’t messed everything up.

Hesitantly Keith knocked on Lance’s door, and just waited. It took a long time for the door to open, and even then the room was dark. Lance had a blanket wrapped around him, and it was one that Shiro had scented, which just made Keith even worse.

“Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. I have no excuse for what I did. You’re just the first omega I’ve spent any extended time with, and I’m still trying to learn, and control my instincts. Again, it’s no excuse, and I understand if you don’t forgive me,” Keith said, looking at the floor more than he was looking at Lance.

Lance reached out and took Keith’s hand.

“Can you just promise it won’t happen again? Cause when you grabbed me it scared me,” Lance said sadly.

“I promise to try and keep it from happening. I’m still working on controlling my instincts after living in the desert for as long as I did. But, I promise to work on it,” Keith said, finally looking up at Lance.

“Thank you,” Lance said softly, before hugging Keith tightly, burying his face in Keith’s shoulder. “By the way, I’m keeping your shirt.”

“Alright. I was wondering where that went,” Keith said, chuckling as he rubbed the omega’s back.

“Would you mind going to get Shiro? I want to lay down with both of you,” Lance mumbled into Keith’s shoulder.

“Sure. I’ll be right back,” Keith said, kissing Lance’s temple before he stepped back into his room.

While Keith went to get Shiro Lance went back to his nest to set it up for his boyfriends. He’d made his nest bigger when he rebuilt it, so he could lay with Shiro and Keith, but it still needed to be straightened up before they saw it.

It took about five minutes for the alphas to return. Before Keith could knock on the door it opened up and let them in.

Lance was sitting in the middle of his nest, smiling at the alphas.

“Come lay down with me,” Lance said, inviting the alphas into his nest.

Keith led the charge, walking in and stopping right at the edge of Lance’s nest. He knew this much, that omegas were very protective of their nests.

Lance just rolled his eyes when Shiro also stopped at the edge of his nest, waiting. He grabbed both alphas by the wrists and pulled them in. He’d already invited them in and just wanted to lay down with them.

He pushed Shiro down and curled up against his side head pillowed on his chest. Then he reached back and pulled Keith’s arm around him. He wanted to cuddle with his alphas and they were taking too long for his liking.

“Are you comfortable?” Shiro asked, slipping his arm under both Lance and Keith’s heads so he could reach Keith too.

“Very,” Lance sighed happily, closing his eyes.

“Yea, this is good,” Keith agreed, planting a kiss on Lance’s cheek and pulling himself closer to the omega.

 

 

 

Keith had gone off on a mission with the Blade of Marmora. Shiro and Allura were off doing a diplomatic mission on a nearby planet. That left Lance, the betas and Coran.

Coran had to stay on the bridge to keep in touch with Allura and Shiro. Pidge and Hunk were working in Green’s hanger on something for the coalition that Matt had asked they go through.

That left Lance feeling on his own. He didn’t want to be alone, so he grabbed a couple of blankets and a pillow, heading down to Green’s hanger to be with his friends. He knew they were busy with their work, and didn’t want to bother them, but he wanted to be near them.

Lance walked in and over to the desk they were working at.

“Hey Lance. What’s up?” Hunk asked, not taking his eyes off his screen.

“Just wanted to be down here with you guys. I won’t get in you’re way, but being alone is making me get in my own head,” Lance said, dropping the blankets he brought on the floor beside the desk.

“Shiro is fine. Nothing is going to happen. It’s a diplomatic mission,” Pidge commented.

“I know. I’m more worried about Keith. We don’t know where he is and he’s off with the Blades. That really has me on edge,” Lance said, setting up his little nest beside his friends.

“So you’re posting up here till they get back?” Hunk asked, looking over at his friend.

“If you guys don’t mind,” Lance said, freezing. Worried that he would be kicked out for getting in the way.

“It’s alright. Stay. We’re just on the computers. Get comfortable,” Hunk said, going back to work.

“Thanks you guys,” Lance said, going back to making his little nest.

 

 

When Shiro got back to the castle a few hours later he immediately went in search of Lance. Checking his room yielded nothing but an empty nest, missing some blankets.

Shiro went to quickly change out of his armour, before going to search the castle for Lance. First he checked Keith’s room – because he knew the omega was not handling Keith leaving for a blade mission well. He checked the lounge, the bridge, the kitchen and didn’t find the omega.

Finally he went to find Hunk and Pidge, thinking the betas would have an idea where Lance would be hiding. To his surprise Lance was in Green’s hangers with the betas, curled up in a make shift nest with Hunk. The beta still hard at work while also being the omega’s pillow.

“Hi guys. How long’s he been here?” Shiro asked, when he walked into the hanger.

“A few hours,” Lance answered himself, opening his eyes and looking over to Shiro smiling. “I was lonely.”

“Are you going to stay down here? Or do you want to join me to call the blades? I was going to see if we could get an update on Keith’s mission,” Shiro said.

Just the name of the other alpha made Lance perk up and jump to his feet. Both Shiro and Hunk chuckled at the omegas enthusiasm.

Hunk got up out of Lance’s nest so he could clean it up and take the stuff back up to his regular nest.

They headed right to the bridge to talk call the blades, not stopping to drop off Lance’s stuff. And the second they got to the bridge Lance dropped his stuff in his seat, and went right back to Shiro’s side as Coran requested a closed line to the blade headquarters.

“Hello Paladins. What might I do for you?” Thace asked when he allowed the transmission.

“We know we shouldn’t be bothering you, but Lance and I were just wondering if we could get an update about Keith,” Shiro explained.

“We’re worried about our mate,” Lance said softly, tucking tight to Shiro’s side.

“You and the Kit are mates? Why did he not tell us?” Thace asked, more focused on Lance’s comment and not Shiro’s request.

“Um... not yet. We’re in the process of becoming mates. But, I’m still worried about my alpha,” Lance said, trying to play a little on the blades softness for mates.

“Certainly kit. I will see how much I can inform you of in regards to the Kit,” Thace said, and pulled out a data pad.

He spent a few minutes silently typing on the pad, and reading the response. While Thace was working Lance started playing with Shiro’s fingers. Shiro just watched Lance with a fond smile and kept kissing the omega’s forehead.

“Kolivan is on his way over now. He’ll brief you on our kits mission,” Thace said, setting the pad aside.

It took the Blade leader a few minutes to make it to the communication’s room. When he walked in Thace got up and left the room, to give the leader privacy with the paladins.

“Hello Paladins. Thace tells me you are looking for information on our kits mission,” Kolivan began as he sat down.

“Yea, I’m just worried about our mate,” Lance said, leaning into Shiro’s side and holding the alphas arm tight to his chest.

“Why did he not tell us you were mates?” Kolivan asked, pausing for a moment; “No matter for right now. Because you are mates I will tell you a little about the kits status. The mission is going well, his team should be back soon. I will have him inform you when he is on his way back to the castle.”

“Thank you Kolivan. We really appreciate it. That’s more than we could have asked for,” Shiro said, being cordial and polite to their ally.

The transmission was ended and immediately Shiro turned to Lance.

“Why did you say we were mates? We only just started courting you,” Shiro said, stunned.

“Uh... cause I don’t need anymore from you guys. I just want to be your mate, and I want you both to be mine,” Lance said, cheeks heating up at the confession.

“When Keith gets back we’re going to talk about this. If you’re really serious about it,” Shiro said, pulling Lance into a tight hug.

Lance wrapped his arms around Shiro’s neck and stretching up to bury his nose in the alphas neck. “I’m very serious.”

 

 

 

Shiro and Lance went to Keith’s room to wait for hom to get back from his mission. Lance made a little make shift nest on Keith’s bed for him and Shiro to lay in.

Lance ended up falling asleep tucked into Shiro’s side, wrapped in the scents of both his alphas.

“Why did you tell them we were mates? I got a million and one questions when I got back to base!” Keith shouted, startling Lance awake.

“We were worried about you, and it slipped out when we were talking to Thace,” Shiro said, trying to be calm and keep Keith calm from his place on the bed with Lance.

“Sorry. It’s really because I want to be your mate, and Shiro’s mate,” Lance said sleepily, propping himself up on his elbow and rubbing the sleep out of his eye.

That froze everyone. Keith was stunned and slowly turned to look at the men on his bed. Shiro just sat still, gauging Keith’s reaction.

“What?” Keith whispered, all anger gone. He was just in complete and utter shock.

“I want you guys to be my mates. Do you not want to that too?” Lance asked, tears started pooling in his eyes. He was terrified he was moving too quickly for the alphas.

The tears scared Keith and he ran over to the bed, pulling Lance into a hug over top of Shiro.

“I do. I really do. It just hasn’t been that long that we’ve been courting you,” Keith said, holding the omega tight and rubbing his back.

“I just need you two. I don’t need any more Earth formalities. We’re not on Earth anymore. I don’t care. I just want to be tied to you two,” Lance cried, tears starting to fall.

“I want that too. I do, but right now let’s just lay back down. I’m sorry I woke you up,” Keith said, working on stripping down to his boxers to lay down in his own bed.

Seeing his struggle Shiro cut in and put his hands on Lance’s hips.

“Let’s let Keith get cleaned up. Come lay down with me and Keith will be here in a minute.”

“Okay.”

Lance lay back down and curled back into Shiro’s side to wait for Keith. The second Keith crawled into bed he rolled over and curled himself around the alpha, and Shiro turned onto his side to be the bog spoon.

Like that they all fell asleep, squished onto Keith’s single bunk. It was far less comfortable that Lance’s nest, but it worked for them.

 

 

It took about a week, and some long serious conversations about mating, and what it would mean when they were mated. How things would change, and what things they couldn’t let change within the pack.

After those serious questions, and requesting to change rooms so they could all fit on a bed it was time.

They were all laying in Lance’s nest, Lance was in Keith’s lap kissing the alpha, while Shiro worked on his scent glad. Licking and sucking on it to get it ready for his mating mark.

“Ready Lance?” Shiro asked, as he moved to kiss along the omegas shoulder.

“More than ready Shiro,” Lance moaned, tilting his head to the side giving Shiro more access to his scent gland.

Shiro smiled, planting one last kiss on Lance’s scent gland, before sinking his teeth into it. Lance moaned loudly head dropping down onto Keith’s shoulder.

There was pain, but that was the last thing Lance was focusing on. The pleasure he felt was so much greater, and to know he’d be feeling it again from Keith was pure bliss.

After a long moment Shiro pulled off and started licking at the bite, cleaning up the blood. As he worked Lance let out little moans and every touch, holding tightly onto Keith. He felt the slick start to run out of him, and he was glad he’d taken off his jeans and was just in his boxers.

“How does it feel?” Keith asked, running his hands along Lance’s side, feeling the omega relaxing in his arms.

“Amazing,” Lance sighed.

Both alphas chuckled, and began to move around and re-position themselves to give Keith better access to his other scent gland. Lance was sitting in Shiro’s lap, leaned back against the alphas chest. His eyes were fluttering closed in bliss, with his head pillowed on Shiro’s shoulder.

Then it was Keith’s turn to rile Lance up. He was straddling Lance’s lap, licking and sucking on the omegas neck.

The whole time Lance was letting out soft moans and whimpers as Keith worked. His slick had soaked through his boxers and was getting Shiro’s pants wet. He couldn’t even be embarrassed because he was with his mates.

“Ready?” Keith asked, sitting back to look Lance in the eyes.

“Yes,” Lance sighed, sleepily smiling at his alphas.

Keith gave Lance one final kiss before biting down on the omegas scent gland.

Lance moaned, back arching digging his nails into Keith’s thighs. Shiro moved one of his hands from Lance’s hips to his crotch, palming him through his boxers.

“Shiro. Keith. Fuck,” Lance moaned, bucking into Shiro’s hand.

Keith pulled back from Lance’s scent gland, quickly cleaning it up. The whole time Lance was moaning louder and louder, before cumming in his boxers.

They sat like that for a couple minutes, letting Lance come down. The whole time giving his love and holding him tightly and kissing him everywhere.

“Let’s go get cleaned up,” Shiro said, sliding Lance into Keith’s lap so he could stand up.

 


End file.
